From Tanjong Katong To Clementi: Singapore's Most Jaw-Dropping Sinkholes Over The Years
At around 5pm on 26 July, a woman was conveyed conscious to Raffles Hospital after her car plunged into a water-filled sinkhole that opened up along Tanjong Katong Road, near the One Amber condominium.
In a Facebook post, PUB said that the incident occurred at the junction of Tanjong Katong Road South and Mountbatten road, affecting two lanes of the road, in an area adjacent to a PUB worksite. The public has been advised to avoid the area, and the accident is currently under investigation.
While dramatic, this isn't the first time the ground has given way in Singapore. Here's a look at other moments when sinkholes made headlines.
Keppel Road commute chaos
When: 30 January 2013
Where: Keppel Road
What happened?: During the morning rush hour, a sinkhole appeared near a junction along Keppel Road towards Ayer Rajah Expressway. A driver who had the misfortune to mistake the sinkhole for a puddle ended up driving his car into it, though he was thankfully unharmed. The sinkhole was estimated to be approximately 2m wide and 0.5m deep.
What caused it?: Burst water pipe.
The mysterious Clementi crater
When: 5 and 8 March 2013
Where: Clementi Road
What happened?: On 5 March 2013, a 2m-wide sinkhole appeared in the centre lane of Clementi Road towards West Coast Road, with one motorcyclist claiming that he fell into the hole and suffered minor injuries as a result.
Although the sinkhole was quickly patched, it ended up reopening a few days later on 8 March 2013. Fortunately, nobody was injured this time.
What caused it?: This one is still a bit of a mystery, as there were no excavation works or water pipe leakages occurring nearby. After the sinkhole reopened, geotechnical engineers suggested that acidic water from underground streams and rivers could have dissolved rocks in the ground, causing part of the road above to sink.
Upper Changi truck trap
When: 24 April 2014
Where: Upper Changi Road East
What happened?: A section of Upper Changi Road East caved in, causing a tipper truck to sink into the road, where it remained trapped for over 2 hours. Fortunately, the truck's driver was unhurt.
What caused it?: The incident was thought to be linked to nearby tunnelling works for the then-upcoming Upper Changi MRT station along the Downtown Line, which were taking place at a construction site approximately 50m away.
While sinkholes are rare, they can be deadly - last August, a 8m-deep sinkhole in Malaysia swallowed a tourist, whose body was never found, and in just March this year, a motorcyclist in Seoul was killed after he fell into a sinkhole.
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